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My primary goddess is Freya. That has been true all along, as the gods have recently affirmed for me, even when Freya gave me to Sigyn for a while. Sigyn was who I needed at the point in my life when I was dealing with caregiving and then death and its aftermath. As long time readers of this blog know, last year I started my Monster Powers journey (see my posts titled Monster Powers.) As my Gila Lizard Powers (GLP-1) medicine got my health under control and I started losing weight, I found myself vaulted into the world of perfumes, and began exploring new aspects of beauty which I had never considered before. That was when the goddess Frigga told me my primary goddess was still Freya and always would be. Later I affirmed that with Freya herself.

Long ago, in my 20s, my natural body was thin and beautiful and strong and capable. It was also dying, bleeding to death. I tried a medicine to attempt to make that stop, Depo-Provera, which didn't work and caused me to gain 60 lbs. in 3 months and become severely depressed before I went off of it and started trying other medicines over the course of the next year, none of which really worked, but I survived. In trying to deal with my new body, I began making art of Stone Age goddesses such as the Goddess of Willendorf and the Goddess and Laussel. I shifted my personal beauty standard to the Stone Age and identified as goddess shaped. I realized the rest of the world took that as a joke, and went with it, as I went with it any time my most serious and personal expressions came across as funny. For 30 years, I embraced Stone Age beauty, even as I tried, and failed, to get my natural body back.

Heathen Visibility Project artists had to decide whether to continue to make and share art, including Project art, in the face of the cesspool of genAI slop invading art spaces with images "generated" via near-universal data theft by so-called "AI" companies. (Generative AI is neither generative nor AI. It merely digests the creative output of human beings and regurgitates average output.)

Many artists have stopped sharing art online, and have taken down their already existing galleries. I too stopped making certain kinds of art. However, since the purpose of the Heathen Visibility Project is to provide free images for editorial use, I have made some Project photos this year. I hesitated to load any more art to my Deviantart because it's not only awash in AI slop but has added features for making the crap. Nonetheless, I do have an established gallery with followers there, and I decided to go ahead and load one Project image there: a photo from the Swords and Swimming ritual. You can see it on this link:

The ritual use of the sense of smell can include literally stopping to smell the roses. A pause on one's way, appreciating a flower, a whisper of "Hail Freya" as one sniffs, this is a ritual. Rituals do not have to be elaborate.

One can plant specific plants to honor particular god, or ancestor, or other being. If the nature of the plant includes fragrance, the smelling of the plant scent can be incorporated into ritual. I have a pink rose in my garden and when I smell it I honor Freya. Roses are usually Freya flowers but I also have one specific rose bush that is for Sigyn due to my personal experiences; see my "pranked by nature" post. 

I'm doing more rune readings now. I've evolved my rune casting techniques over the years, and am now doing them more intuitively than I did before. I have a stronger connection to Odin now than I did before. Also, long time readers may recall that I received a new rune set that I felt was going to help me connect more with female ancestral power when I read the runes. It worked out great and has really made my readings more smoothly intuitive.

For years now, I've taught rune classes, read runes for charity at Pagan Pride Day fundraisers, and did the occasional rune casting for people in my social network, either in person or online. My first rune readings were all in person, and then my first professional rune readings were by phone, but in the internet age I've come to find I really like the format of doing my rune readings via messaging, chat, or email. 

Since this is Gnosis Diary I've gotta tell you about gnosis once in a while.

My autumn gnosis experience was about cats. Remember my cat Happy had told me he wanted to return to Earth and I would know which one. Well I was scrolling through the Sin City Witches social media group and a member posted she had kittens to give away. There was a blurry photo of a tiny black fuzzball reaching claws toward the camera. I heard Happy tell me that was him. I contacted the kitten lady, and my housemate.

One day I was doing normal house stuff and my Honir ring broke. 

First, some background. As longtime readers of this blog might remember, my actual godspouse wedding rings that I received during my 2 marriage ceremonies exist on the spiritual level, not in the physical realm, but I had 3 rings dedicated to my 3 god-husbands, and 1 of them was the one I accidentally used in my 3rd marriage ceremony which I didn't realize I had done until afterwards.

Monsoon season in the Vegas valley closed out August with a wonderful thunderstorm during my pool party. The week leading up to it had been lovely and still enough for me to manage to get the pool looking nice and clean, always a challenge when a giant pine tree hangs over it. The pool party started with hot, still weather and a few puffy clouds in the sky, as neighbors and friends trickled in through the open side gate. I was super excited by the surprise appearance of friends from out of town I hadn't seen in years. The clouds kept gathering and turned gray and we were all looking at the sky thinking it might rain. We heard thunder roll, and we all responded with enthusiastic noises. I called out to Thor, "I made a fresh pot of coffee!" and plink! drop! Shining diamond blessings from the sky! It started raining! 

So of course I had to go in and get a cup of coffee and come back outside to make a toast to Thor. I got back in the pool with my cup and finished it as the rain increased. Being desert dwellers, we all love the rain.